Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1887-04-02
FARMERS AND TAXATION,

between opposing and enduring
forces."- VIII. SetcaYd.
There are two forces in this conn.
try engaged in just such conflict
as Mr.. Seward had in his minds eve
when he delivered his famous Ro.
chester address. One is the greed
of monopoly and the other the rights
OF the people. 1t may become con.
fiict between agrarianism aud vested
right, and it will become such a con.
flict ifa wise craftsmanship does not
iuterpose to prevent bloodshed.
which always attends such a conflict.
Nearly century ago France went
through the ordeal that was the end
of one order aud the beginning of
another. 1t convulsed all Europe
and occasioned the shedding of
oceans of blood. 1t would have been
avoided il the system of taxation in
France had been based upon wealth:
but the vicious system of Francis
the First was continued by Rich.
ellen, by Louis the Great and the
Regency. The poor of the country
supported the treasury and supplied
recruits for the army. Our present
system is even worse, and but that
we inhabit new country OF match.
less resources America would he in
even a worse condition and upon
more seething political volcano than
France was when the !" Estates Gen.
eral" convened, nearly one hundred
years ago.
When we obtained national indie.
pendence our anxiety was to avoid
the system of entailed estates that
prevailed in the mother country, but
alter a century OF national existence
we fluid that we have something far
worse than the law of entail. We
have a class of artificial persons en-
lowed with immortality. And they
have infinitely greater privilege than
was possessed by the nobility of Eu.
rope. They possessed the right of
eminent domain. They possess the
power Of taxation, for the right to
increase capital stock and declare
stock dividends is no less than the
right of taxation. We have million.
aires whose fortunes amount 10 more
than the fortunes of Crassus and
Lucullus combined, and which were
accumulated, not by the spoil of
aliens, accomplished by armies, as
were the fortunes OF Crassus aud
Lucullus, but by charter privileges
conferred upon them by legislative
enactment and construed by courts
subservient to the demands of
wealth. 1t is system by which
labor counts for nothing and priv
ilege for everything.
/ do not know what will be the
effect of the Interstate Commerce
Bill. do not know that it tends to
consolidate power in the hands Of the
authorities at Washington, but in
view of the fact that ours is now
consolidated Government anyhow,
do not know that that is serious
objection to the bill. If it has ten.
dency to break the hold that mono
poly has upon the people it is saln.
tary measure, for unless that hold is
broken there will he revolution
whose beginning will be grand
strike originating in some railroad
center aud extending to the utter.
most limits of the country. We have
been on the verge of such an event
several times during the last decade,
and there is much more Socialism in
the country now than ever before,
and it is still growing.
I suppose there are many people
who will say this is all bosh, but
know that an individual can not be
healthy if one part of the body is
strengthened at the expense of the
other parts, and the country can not
escape danger il its wealth is con
centrated in the hands Of few,
while the many remain poor. 10 IS
like giving the stomach splendid
meal every other hour, and giving
the lungs nothing but air out Of which
nearly all the oxygen has been taken.
The man can not survive such con
diti0ns, and the country can not sur.
vive conditions that compel the PEG.
pie to continue to pay dividends mp.
on four billions of watered stock to
Jay Gould and men like him. The
Sangrado remedy must give place
to something better; perhaps the
Interstate Commerce Bill will do